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Rhode Island officially joins the NEC.
Rhody's HC Joe Trainer was chosen CAA Coach of the Year.
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From the UMass website:
Junior linebacker Tyler Holmes was named the CAA Co-Defensive Player of the Year on Monday. He was also named to the CAA First-Team along with senior receiver Anthony Nelson and senior lineman Greg Niland. Junior tailback Jonathan Hernandez and junior receiver Julian Talley were on the second team and senior tailback John Griffin took third-team honors. Holmes is the first UMass player to earn league defensive player of the year honors since Shannon James was the Atlantic 10's top player in 2004. Prior to James, the last honoree was Brian Corcoran in 1994.
One notable omission:
Passing average/game
1. Kyle Havens......... UMAS SR 11 345 219 7 63.5 2692 20 244.7
Total offense
1. Kyle Havens......... UMAS SR 11 -62 2692 384 2630 239.1
Havens was also 4th in passing efficiency.
Tyler Holmes was the CAA Co-Defensive player-of-the-year.
Matty V has an article on the UMass CAA player awards.
Holmes is also a Buck Buchanan Award finalist.
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UMass also released the annual UMass football awards.
From the UMass website:
AMHERST, Mass. -- The UMass football team held its annual team banquet on Sunday as head coach Kevin Morris and his staff handed out the team awards for 2010. Junior linebacker Tyler Holmes was named the Team MVP while senior linebacker Mike Mele was named the Defensive MVP and senior receiver Anthony Nelson was honored as the Offensive MVP.
Here's a look at the team's honors from 2010:
The Team MVP was awarded to junior linebacker Tyler Holmes, who racked up 110 tackles, to tie for the team's lead with Mele. Holmes, who was a three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Week, is a top Buck Buchanan Award Candidate as the top FCS Defensive Player. Holmes led UMass in tackles for a loss with 12 for 45 yards, interceptions with five for 70 yards including two for touchdowns against Maine to set a UMass school record for a game and season. He also led UMass in sacks with five and had two forced fumbles along with six passes defended.
Defensive MVP Mike Mele tied Holmes for the team lead in tackles with 110. He had 2.5 TFLs for 17 yards along with a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery.
Offensive MVP Anthony Nelson led UMass in receiving with 61 catches for 830 yards. He piled up a team-best 1,249 all-purpose yards. He racked up 242 yards on kickoff returns, 103 on punt returns and 74 rushing yards.
The Most Improved Defensive Player Award was shared by seniors James Carven and Brandon Flanagan. Carven started the final two games of the season, playing all 11 and finished with 35 tackles and two pass break-ups. Flanagan started all 11 games at nose tackle and had 30 tackles on the season with two passes defended.
The Most Improved Offensive Player Award went to senior quarterback Kyle Havens and sophomore center Quinton Sales. Havens threw for 2,692 yards and a 63.5 completion percentage along with 20 touchdowns. He finished with a 144.1 pass efficiency rating and 244.7 passing yards per game. Sales, started five games at center and was solid snapping the ball to Havens all season long.
The Most Valuable Players on Special Teams went to seniors Woody Carter IV and Scott Duggan. Both players was key to coverage and blocking units all season long. Carter and Duggan each made 11 tackles and made many key blocks to spring big releases on the season.
The Iron Man Award for best work in the Weight room went to Holmes and redshirt freshman Jamar Smith.
The team's Academic Awards were claimed by senior cornerback Ke'Mon Bailey and senior center John Ihne.
Offensive Scout Team Players of the Year were redshirt freshman quarterback Jesse Hunt and sophomore wide receiver James Lizotte, who transferred in from Holy Cross.
The Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year was freshman defensive back Ryan Collins.
The awards were about as I expected. I had been meaning to mention that Jamar Smith looked like he had put on some muscle. The blog is looking forward to him running the rock next year.
James Lizotte has FBS size at 6-3 210.
Not much biographical information about FR Ryan Collins. Walpole Times has an article on Collins.
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